Holiday 2011 Giveaway

November 28th, 2011

It’s giveaway time! There will be three winners, and each winner will receive a $10 voucher toward anything in the shop. For a chance to win comment below and tell us about the most memorable gift you ever received. I’ll announce the winners next Monday!

121 Comments

At the moment, the most memorable gift that I have received is a wooden blanket chest that my grandpa designed and began building for me, near the end of his life. He didn’t finish it, but my aunts and uncles (his children) finished it for him. On the bottom (as is the tradition) are the initials of all the people who helped build and finish it, burned into the wood.
I love that chest. :) Definitely the most memorable and memory-full gift I have ever received.

A boyfriend built me a bedsite table. He’s a photographer with a furniture making hobby, and it’s constructed of dark wood made even deeper by a natural oil finish. It took him months to make, and it’s modern and simple and gorgeous. To this day, the nicest thing anyone has ever made me.

The first thing that came to mind when you asked for my most memorable gift was this babydoll I got when I was pretty young. It was supposed to be like a real live baby so it pooped/peed/ate this weird mush and cried. I was so excited to get it but when I finally got it I remember being kind of creeped out by it hahaha. Apparently that was more memorable than any other gift! I’d love to win this, I adore your shop :).

My most memorable gift was the CD mix my sister woke me up to on Christmas. It was called “18 years of our greatest hits” and had everything from childhood songs to the Disney ones we sang together while we cleaned our room growing up to the songs we thought were super cool in high school. She set up my alarm clock to play “The Shores of the Swilly” (a sister-ish song) to wake me up on Christmas morning.

When my husband and I got engaged, he didn’t have enough money for a ring. Our plan was that he would work and save money for it, then we would get married. That was fine with me, but his granny didn’t like it. She had other plans. She took an antique platinum and diamond ring that belonged to her mother. She had it cleaned and re-sized. Just before Christmas, he surprised me with it. Wow!

The best gift I’ve ever received on Christmas morning was a large stuffed dog in a basket. I was 9 years old and thought that it was a teaser, and that it meant we were going to pick up the “real dog” that afternoon. It took them until April of that next year, but my parents (who are not pet people, might I add) caved and got us a dog. Just for me.

I know this is sappy, but the best gift I ever received was my engagement ring. The proposal was a complete surprise and nothing makes me happier than knowing that he wants to keep me forever. Also, it sparkles.

My beloved Cabbage Patch kid Claudette (Pronounced Claudeteeeeeee). I wasn’t a kid who asked for toys and since I was too little at the time, I got her well after the fad was dead. I loudly told my family her name was Chloe, then got disappointed when they told me she already had a name. She’s been my most constant companion, even going to college. She reminds me of my family, who live far away. If my house was burning, she’s what I would grab.

My boyfriend surprised me with a coupon booklet for my birthday this past year. It was filled with really cute vouchers for hugs, kisses, and foot massages, and little hand drawn pictures, but when I looked closely all the expiration dates said “Expires when read” and “Expires 11/11/11″ (my birthday is 11/12). I just laughed so hard while going through all the coupons. He spent a lot of time to make me a very funny and thoughtful gift! Plus, it didn’t hurt that at the end of the booklet was a little note that said he’d do all the things the booklet said anyways. Such a sweetheart. :)

my most memorable gift arrived on my doorstep shortly after announcing my pregnancy with our 1st child. My sister and brother in law decided to buy not only our stroller, but also our carseat. i was floored by their generousity.

My most memorable gifts have come from my husband. The first thing he ever bought me was an iPod, that he filled with music and apps to make my life easier. Every gift he’s gotten for me has been thought through thoroughly, and makes my life easier in some way.

My most memorable gift was from my best friend and college roommate. One summer I went to Mexico to teach English and she spent the whole time making a quilt for me just like one she had that I had always been jealous of. It was her first time making a quilt by herself and there are a lot of holes in it, etc. but I LOVE it.

Is it terribly sappy if I say my engagement ring from my husband? Wherever I am, and wherever he is (he travels a lot), it’s a constant physical reminder of my absolute favorite person in the world.

I suppose the gift-giving was memorable for obvious reasons…but it was also so pretty and surprisingly sparkly that I was confused for moment — I thought it was fake, that I was in the middle of a weird joke. Only for about a second, though. :)

The most memorable and contentious gift my sister AND I ever received was from our mom. It was a gift she said we had to share because she’d likely never have the time to make another. During the summer of her sixteenth birthday she was hit by a car :( and spent the following two months in bed with a cast from toe to hip. During this time, she tap, tap, tapped on a silver quarter. The resulting silver band is our most cherished ring. We take turns “owning” and loving the ring. And every once in a while we beg the other to swap. I’ve been the lucky owner for the past few years — it’s probably time to share again…

i think the most memorable gift i ever got was my grandma’s engagement watch. it was so special that she chose me out of all her grandkids to get that treasured item! :) i ended up wearing it on my wedding day.

The most memorable gift up to date was still from my parents. I was maybe 9 at that time and we just came form a christmas trip. When they opened the front door you could see presents under the christmas tree, actually we came from our grandmothers house and stayed there for a week during christmas and didnt get much, and you know how a kid is, always expecting. So back home, my parents bought me a Kodak film camera, not the expensive ones and I adored it! I’m 20 now and an amateur photographer so that present was pretty memorable for me.

The most memorable gift i’ve ever recieved is a tiffanys necklace that my mother got me for my 18th birthday. It ment so much because i knew she didn’t have the money to get it for me but she still did. I didn’t expect it at all and i think that’s what made it so special.

My family does secret santa each year and the gifts have to be handmade. I got engaged last year and my Dad picked my name. He made a picture frame for our wedding picture out of barn wood from the farm I grew up on. He put so much thought and time into it. Best gift ever!

My most memorable gift was a beautiful silk scark from my Grandmother. I think it still smells like her. Luckily for me, she’s still around. I lived abroad for a while and I wasn’t able to spend very much time with her, but whenever I wear her scarf I feel like she’s enjoying all of my adventures with me!

Apart from the obvious instance of a wit & whistle gift (which is yet to come, but I live in hope – and have dropped many a subtle hint…), my most memorable gift is a small silver globe which spins swiftly and silently, and through which I can explore the world.

My husband, who is awesome at gift giving, went over the top last year. As kids who grew up in the computer and internet age, we’ve never really had the opportunity to hand write notes to one another. As a part of his gift, he wrote me a love letter. And it blew me away. Thinking about it still makes me teary.

My father passed away just days before my 10th birthday, so my Mom got me a gold heart on a chain. It was engraved with a “10″ on the front, and “Love, Mom and Dad” on the back. She said it represented my 10th birthday but that it would always represent that on a scale from 1 to 10, I was a perfect 10. I still wear it to this day and think of how thoughtful that was at such a hard time.

In fourth grade, my dad got me the boxed set of “The Lord of the Rings,” so I could read them before seeing the movies. :]
In our family, we have a tradition of opening one present Christmas Eve, and that boxed set was the one I chose — you can be sure I was glued to them the rest of the night!!

Every year growing up my Grandpa would make a new gift for each of his children’s families or for all of the grandchildren. He is an amazing woodworker and every year growing up I always wondered what Grandpa had been tinkering away in the garage with that year. We’ve gotten Chinese Checker boards, Secret Boxes, Stilts made from old crutches, Dressers, Recipe Boxes, Rocking Horses…I can’t wait for this Christmas!

The most memorable gift I ever received was a farmhouse table from my boyfriend (now husband). He purchased it from a vintage store in Athens, Georgia and stored it in his garage for two months! He placed it in an open field with flowers on top and proposed :) It’s not only special because it was a part of our engagement, but now it’s where we enjoy meals together and with friends!

My most memorable gift is from a friend of mine since kindergarten. When we were college-age, she got me a magazine rack (the vintage-y metal kind) from Pottery Barn. It’s the most memorable to me because it’s exactly what I wanted, and I never said a word about it before receiving it. That doesn’t happen very often.

I always snooped for presents as a kid, but after a while mom stopped changing the hiding place. knowing that the presents would always be hidden in the top left self of her closet kinda took the fun out of it. Anyway, one year, all i asked for was a film SLR camera. I knew I was going to get it because I went to get something for mom in her room and the closet door was open… unfortunately I also bragged about knowing what I would get. So dad decided to one up me and switch out my present with coal! On Christmas morning I opened my present and there was coal and a riddle. I had to search for my real present. Best christmas ever!

My most memorable gift was last year for Christmas, my husband and I had just moved out of our apartment into our first house (it’s a major fixer-upper, but we love it!) and the budget was super tight. We spent Christmas morning snuggled together next to the lit tree with little else in the house. We had a few small things for each other. But my favorite was a little box of 2×2 inch cards with hand drawn pictures of each of the rooms in our house only renovated and a message “Looking forward to making this house our home with you.” We’ve spent the year on one little project after the next making those little pictures a reality and creating moments I’ll remember forever that I got to share with my wonderful husband :)

The best gift I ever got was when my mother made me my own quilt, with the batting from her own grandmother. It spans generations, and (bonus!) its very warm, since the batting is actual wool, as opposed to the stuff they use now days.

The best gift I received was a pair of diamond stud earrings from my husband! I was 36 weeks along in my pregnancy and my husband had to go out of town for work– no problem, we thought! 4 more weeks until I’m due to have the baby! Crazily enough, I went into labor while he was 3000 miles away. He showed up just in time and bearing gifts! ;) We say that one special day (my daughter’s 18th birthday? college graduation? her wedding?), we would love to pass the earrings along to her because they were given to me on the day she was born!

One a trip to rent a two-person bike for valentines day, my necklace got ripped off and lost coming up a stairway. Now, normally I would have chalked this up to bad luck and moved on, but this necklace was one of the first few things I had really saved up to buy, and it was designed by an architect that I really admired, and was a reminder of what I wanted to pursue in life (I was going to architecture school at the time). Knowing how distraught I was with the loss, my boyfriend bought me a nearly identical necklace for our anniversary. Needless to say, I was incredibly touched, and its something I still cherish.

My most memorable gift would have to be a cardboard playhouse my dad made for me when I was very young. It was fashioned out of a giant refrigerator box. Complete with windows and doors it was so simple, but for a child’s imagination, it was a mansion.

My most memorable gift was when I was 8. I had a musical doll on a rocking chair which had a recently broken leg. I wrote a note to “santa” a few days before Christmas if he could fix it for me and Christmas morning I work up to a glitter trail leading up to the christmas tree from my bedroom door to find my doll as good as new! It was a very magical moment in my life :)

My most memorable gift was a dad for a day. To get a better understanding of what that means; my dad was drunk and violent. I never did much with my dad as he never had much time or cared much about me. We didn’t have much money to spare since it was feeding his habits. If he wasn’t drunk, he was gambling, if he wasn’t gambling he was yelling at me. One day my dad surprised me with a Nerf football. The one I had wanted so bad (I was about 6). That day, my dad went out with me in the backyard and we tossed the football back and forth for about an hour. It was the best gift I have ever received; an hour with my dad. Sober and together. My dad loved me that day. I think he understood that I didn’t want the football, I wanted him. Still when I see kids playing with their dad outside I get that feeling again. I know how they feel, even if for a brief moment; one that I will never forget. The day I had a dad.

My most memorable gift was when I was about 6 or 7, I received a Ghostbusters Proton Pack and Ghost Trap. I still remember all the fun I had playing with those toys. We used to go to the beach house every summer and I can still remember the fun I had chasing “ghosts” with those toys.

A black dress from my fiance for my birthday. Weeks before that, I spied that dress in a store window – a small boutique by the waterfront. Every time we walked past it, I’d comment on how beautiful and simple it was. My birthday was nearing and I told him I would buy it with my waitress money. He told me to save my money for our trip that winter. I thought, he’s right! I don’t need another dress. When I opened the package for the dress, I was speechless. He rarely gives me gifts, and this just proved how much thought he put into it when he did! :D

My first watercolor set, I got it about 3 years ago. and even though it deffinitly did not mean much to me then but if I didnt get that set, or sit down and practiced it; I would never be at where I am now. I have been in 2 art shows, and sell my art downtown Grand Rapids and Im only 15 (:

when i graduated from college, my mom gave me a gold and aquamarine ring she had designed. 23 years later, that ring STILL rocks and i now love aquamarines more than i love my birthstone, the diamond. thanks, mom xx